❓ Mr L'Estrange asks about funding for Linear Clinical Research's cancer drug trials program. The Minister clarifies that no direct funding was provided to Linear, but $20,000 was allocated to PathWest for molecular screening to support the program, sourced from the Office of Population Health Genomics' operational budget, with no cuts to health services.
AnsweredQoN 4273Legislative Assembly
Asked
17 October 2018
Member
Portfolio
Deputy Premier; Minister for Health; Mental Health
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the media release dated 30 July 2018, ‘WA gets personal about targeting cancer’, and I ask: (a) how much funding from the WA Department of Health was provided to Linear Clinical Research to offer their cancer drug trials program to WA patients; (b) where is the funding coming from; and (c) if the funding is internal to the Department of Health, what services have been cut to allow the funds to be redirected?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
20 November 2018
Response time
8 days
I am advised that:
(a) There has been no direct funding provided to Linear Clinical Research. In-kind support has been provided by Linear Clinical Research to allow a small number of WA patients previously travelling to NSW to participate in the Molecular Screening and Therapeutics Study (MoST) project to receive their treatments in Perth. In addition, Linear Clinical Research is in the process of gaining site approval to allow ten new WA patients with rare or advanced and treatment resistant cancers to be enrolled into the MoST study. These services will be provided in-kind by Linear Clinical Research, with drugs made freely available by the respective pharmaceutical companies.
To enable these new patients to be potentially matched to one of the MoST study’s trial treatment arms, the Department of Health, through the Office of Population Health Genomics’ (OPHG) operational budget, provided $20,000 to PathWest to cover the cost of their molecular (genomic) screening. This funding builds capacity within PathWest to provide expanded molecular screening for rare and treatment resistant cancers. This funding also ensures that some WA cancer patients with limited treatment options get immediate access to the MoST project, ahead of national roll-out of the program under the Australia Genomic Cancer Medicine Program (AGCMP). The AGCMP will be predominantly Commonwealth funded, with a financial and in-kind contribution from the states.
(b) The funding provided to PathWest to facilitate molecular screening for trial participants has come from an operational budget within the OPHG, Public and Aboriginal Health Division, WA Department of Health. This is consistent with OPHG’s role in policy development and new knowledge translation of genomic technologies.
(c) The funding for this molecular screening has not come from the budget of a Health Services Provider. Therefore there has been no redirection of funds from any health services and no services have been cut as a result of this funding.
(a) There has been no direct funding provided to Linear Clinical Research. In-kind support has been provided by Linear Clinical Research to allow a small number of WA patients previously travelling to NSW to participate in the Molecular Screening and Therapeutics Study (MoST) project to receive their treatments in Perth. In addition, Linear Clinical Research is in the process of gaining site approval to allow ten new WA patients with rare or advanced and treatment resistant cancers to be enrolled into the MoST study. These services will be provided in-kind by Linear Clinical Research, with drugs made freely available by the respective pharmaceutical companies.
To enable these new patients to be potentially matched to one of the MoST study’s trial treatment arms, the Department of Health, through the Office of Population Health Genomics’ (OPHG) operational budget, provided $20,000 to PathWest to cover the cost of their molecular (genomic) screening. This funding builds capacity within PathWest to provide expanded molecular screening for rare and treatment resistant cancers. This funding also ensures that some WA cancer patients with limited treatment options get immediate access to the MoST project, ahead of national roll-out of the program under the Australia Genomic Cancer Medicine Program (AGCMP). The AGCMP will be predominantly Commonwealth funded, with a financial and in-kind contribution from the states.
(b) The funding provided to PathWest to facilitate molecular screening for trial participants has come from an operational budget within the OPHG, Public and Aboriginal Health Division, WA Department of Health. This is consistent with OPHG’s role in policy development and new knowledge translation of genomic technologies.
(c) The funding for this molecular screening has not come from the budget of a Health Services Provider. Therefore there has been no redirection of funds from any health services and no services have been cut as a result of this funding.
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